We recently had our first assignment in our Introduction To Craft course. This consisted of trying out everyone’s cakes and pastries and putting our baking skills to the test. We all had the chance to explain our recipe and process and share what worked and what didn’t during the experimentation of our creations.
It was both a fun and extremely informative assignment that introduced us to the world of “making.” With this warm up exercise we saw how ingredients, binding agents and formwork were all important factors to baking a cake just like working with casting material. With laminated pastries, we were able to compare the process of layering thin materials together for strength and manipulating it to bend and fold. This process is much like the process of working with glue laminated timber and served as a good introduction to the experience of lamination for us.
The two groups had different key aspects that were crucial parts of craft. With the cake team, the ratio of ingredients was a vital step. On the other hand, for the laminated pastry team, correct wait time and folding were essential for creating a successful pastry. It’s safe to say that everyone was surprised by the difficulty of achieving consistent results. Even though many used the same recipe, there were significant variations. As a result of this warm up, I doubt any of us will underestimate the tedious nature of our lamination and casting projects in the future.